The United Kingdom plans to send warships to the Black Sea amid escalating tensions between Ukraine and Russia. The Sunday Times reported this based on sources in the British Navy.
According to the newspaper, a destroyer armed with anti-aircraft missiles will travel from the Mediterranean Sea to the Black Sea with an anti-submarine frigate. F-35B fighters and helicopters are available on the HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier to support the two ships in the Black Sea if required.
Tensions have escalated between Moscow and Kiev recently. Russia has beefed up its military presence on the border with Ukraine, and skirmishes between pro-Russian separatists and the Ukrainian army in eastern Ukraine have killed at least 26 people this year.
Symbiosis
With the deployment of the naval vessels, London wants to show solidarity with Ukraine and NATO allies, the Sunday Times writes. A spokesman for the British Ministry of Defense told the newspaper that the British government is working closely with Kiev and continues to call on Russia to withdraw its forces.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Defense said: “The United Kingdom and our international allies are firm in our support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
Earlier, there was also talk of two US warships sailing to the Black Sea through the Bosphorus, but President Biden was said to have refrained from escalating. Russia expanded its military presence in the Black Sea this weekend to include two warships and 15 small vessels.
